


How Byleth had to pick a house to find her home

by suddenlyawkward



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-08-18 22:34:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20199259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suddenlyawkward/pseuds/suddenlyawkward
Summary: when they escorted the three teenagers they’d saved back to their school, she was met with a smile and a job offer.





	How Byleth had to pick a house to find her home

She had never been very friendly, outside of her father’s merry band of mercenaries, she hadn’t had much contact with other people, certainly not regular people, usually it was her dad that handled the communications with their employers -much less nobles, and royals, and all kinds of important future figure heads of the country.

So she was flabbergasted when they escorted the three teenagers they’d saved back to their school, and she was met with a smile and a job offer, she had been ready to be a maid, since her father seemed to have made the decision to stay, even if he looked affronted about it.

But the archbishop said she wanted her to teach here, her, Byleth Eisner was to be a teacher to a bunch of noble kids.

she had been about to laugh at the woman’s joke but the look in her father’s face told her it was serious.

yes, she was very talented in combat, she was aware of that, but surely a place like this could afford to hire better suited people for the job, people that at least had an idea of how to talk to other people without feeling crippling anxiety

She almost cheers Seteth on when he voiced his doubts about her capability, even though her pride felt bruised and it kept reminding her that she wasn't called "the ashen demon" just because it sounded cool, still, if the man could persuade the archbishop of changing her mind, she just had to place her faith in him.

Alas, the imposing woman shut him down with a look, Seteth acquiesced and she wanted to grab him by the shoulders and scream at him to fight for the both of them.

Her dad placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her words of encouragement and a warm smile, and that’s how she knew that the reason he decided to stay in a place he didn’t really want to be in, was her.

He had, of course, voiced his worries about her behaviour before, he tried to find her friends, turns out that most little girls don’t like fighting, and little boys don’t like girls that can beat them up, so she was never good at that.

he had given her puppies, and kittens and even a bunny once, but their nomadic lifestyle wasn’t the ideal for keeping such pets, so he gave her a horse, something practical, that they could use but she could still form a bond with.

It worked for a while, Carrot the horse was her best friend, she took care of him day and night, Carrot didn’t judge her for her long silences, and he didn’t mind that she didn’t smile very frequently, he only cared about carrots -hence the name, her dad’s worry had been placated and the three of them had been very happy, until the day they were ambushed by a group of bandits and an archer had not only fired all of his arrows straight at her horse instead of her, but had produced a steel sword from out of nowhere when his quiver had been emptied and went straight at Carrot with it.

She hadn’t cried, she stabbed the man in the eye with one of his own arrows, that was the first time she’d killed someone.

Seeing her dad smile at her like that, how could she refuse?

So she sighed and tried to smile as Seteth guided her to her room, apparently she wasn’t going to stay with her dad, which was weird, but not enough to worry about it.

She was told to go around the monastery to meet her future students, before she had to decide which house she wanted to teach.

the first couple of days she avoided people, she had discovered the greenhouse while she was going around trying to memorize the layout of the place, the woman in charge didn't speak much unless it was to offer some advice about her gardening skills, which was fine because her gardening skills were practically non existing, she just enjoyed the serenity of the task.

It gave her time to think about everything that had happened until then, how her life had changed in the blink of an eye and still had her reeling.

She had to admit, if nothing else, sleeping on the softest bed she'd ever encountered was bliss, she had even stopped dreaming about the green-haired girl, Sothis.

She hadn't gone out of her way to talk to anybody, but some of the students approached her, thinking she was going to be a new student, or just to thank her for saving their friends, they seemed nice, spending time with them didn't seem as daunting anymore, though she still wondered if she'd be a good teacher, she was barely any older than them, and a lot more sheltered she'd bet.

Dedue, Dimitri's friend had taken to do some gardening with her in the mornings, he didn't speak much so she didn't mind the company, though she suspected it was rather that he was putting up with her than the other way around, he tended to the flowers with such care that she couldn't help but smile, he was a big fella, and seemed to have an even bigger heart.

Ashe, a wiry boy with stunning green eyes also spent his time hanging around the place, mostly staring at the plants while deep in thought, but he had been very sweet and accommodating when Byleth arrived one morning to tend to her mixed vegetables.

On thursday she heard someone singing as she walked towards the greenhouse, the sound was coming from one of the dorm rooms, she recognized it as the one where Dorothea knocked on every single morning, reminding the person inside that she had to get started for the day

Lysithea, a sweet but intimidating girl she'd met in the library had said that Bernadetta was really shy and was feeling even more so with the new addition to the staff.

Byleth didn't want to make her uncomfortable, so she decided to try to calm down the girl's paranoia by becoming somewhat familiar, so every morning, before going to the greenhouse, she'd knock on the door with a bright, as bright as she could manage, "good morning" and she'd leave a breakfast muffin she'd get from the dining hall outside Bernadetta's door before leaving to tend to her plants, a note of encouragement always accompanying the sweet treat.

It was saturday morning when she bumped into Manuela, the older woman asking if she had made her decision, reminding her that they had a meeting with Rhea that afternoon for the final touches before classes started

And so, she venture outside her greenhouse to do a bit of recon on the students she hadn't yet meet

To her surprise she had already met most of the prominent students from each of the three houses in the week she had been given -and for the most part neglected, to get used to the idea of living in the monastery and leaving her mercenary life to act as a combat teacher for some kids.

Against all odds, she found that she really liked them, they were all very colorful, their personalities and ideas vastly different from each other, especially amongst each house, but still there was an amicable feeling between them.

There was tension as well, nothing surprising there, one of the students had commented the oddity of having the future Empreror of the Adrestian Empire, the Crown Prince of Faerghus, and the next Leader of the Leicester Alliance in the same year.

She wasn’t stupid, she knew that choosing a house to teach wasn’t just about her job here, she was very aware of the repercutions this decision would have not only in her life, but theirs.

She would essentially train them to go against each other should the need arise, the ground beneath their relative peace was shaky at best, had been for years, and someday they might find themselves at the end of each other’s swords, so to speak.

So she wasn’t taking this decision lightly, even if it looked like she didn't care.

Profesor Manuela and Hanneman wanted to be done with it, so they had looked a little annoyed when she didn't respond immediately.

The archbishop had said that she was to pick first, probably to avoid making her feel like she was going to teach the house nobody wanted, or making her feel important and welcomed as the new professor, still, the look on her face did nothing to placate the feeling inside her that said this was a test.

But a test for what?

Perhaps she was just being overly cautious, she'd be their teacher for just one year, not enough time to be very impactful in their lives, probably.

"Byleth?" Rhea inquired softly, a hand on her arm, reminding her that she had yet to answer the question

Right. It was only a year, she said to herself, they wouldn't even remember her after graduating, so it wasn't like the future of Fodlan rested on her shoulders or anything.

**Author's Note:**

> Number of feels i have because of this game: all of the feels.
> 
> I can't make any promises about more chapters, should anyone be interested, but i've been playing non stop since the release and i won't stop having feels, so probably Byleth's gonna pick her house in the next chap.
> 
> Which house do you think it'll be?
> 
> Un-betaed btw, sorry.


End file.
